Stanley. I do befeech you, either not believe The envious flanders of her falfe accusers :

Or, if the be accus'd on true report,

Bear with her weakness; which I think proceeds
From wayward ficknefs, and no grounded malice.
Queen. Saw you the King to-day, my Lord of Stanley?
Stanley. But now the Duke of Buckingham and I
Are come from vifiting his Majesty.

Queen. What likelihood of his amendment, Lords? Buck. Madam, good hope; his Grace speaks chearfully.

Queen. God grant him health! Did you confer with him?

Buck. Madam, we did. He feeks to make atonement Between the Duke of Glo'fter and your brothers, And between them and my Lord Chamberlain; And fent to warn them to his royal prefence.

Queen. 'Would all were well—but that will never I fear our happiness is at the height.

Enter Gloucester and Haftings.

[be

Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure it. Who are they that complain unto the King, That I, forfooth, am ftern, and love them not; By holy Paul, they love his Grace but lightly, That fill his ears with fuch diffentious rumours. Because 1 cannot flatter, and look fair, Smile in mens' faces, fmooth, deceive, and cog, Duck with French nods, and apish courtesy, I must be held a rancorous enemy. Cannot a plain man live and think no harm, But thus his fimple truth must be abus'd By filken, fly, infinuating jacks?

Gray. To whom in all this prefence fpeaks your

Grace?

Glo, To thee, that haft nor honesty nor grace. When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong? Or thee? or thee? or any of your faction?

A plague upon you all! His royal perfon,
Whom God preserve better than you would wish,
Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while,

But you must trouble him with lewd complaints,

Queen. Brother of Glo'fter, you mistake the matter. The King of his own royal difpofition, And not provok'd by any fuitor elfe, (Aiming belike at your interior hatred, That in your outward action fhews itself, Against my children, brother, and myself), Makes him to fend, that he may learn the ground Of your ill-will, and thereby may remove it.

Glo. I cannot tell; the world is grown fo bad, That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch. Since every jack became a gentleman,

There's many a gentle perfon made a jack.

Queen. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother You envy my advancement and my friends: [Glo'ster. God grant we never may have need of you!

Glo Mean time, God grants that we have need of Our brother is imprifon'd by your means,

Myfelf difgrac'd, and the nobility

Held in contempt; while many fair promotions

Are daily given to ennoble those

[you.

That scarce, fome two days fince, were worth a noble. Queen. By him that rais'd me to this careful height, From that contented hap which I enjoy'd,

I never did incenfe his Majefty、

Against the Duke of Clarence; but have been

An earnest advocate to plead for him.

My Lord, you do me fhameful injury,

Falfely to draw me in thefe wild fufpects.

Glo. You may deny too that you were the caufe

Of my Lord Haltings' late imprisonment.

Riv. She may, my Lord, for

Glo. She may, Lord Rivers----why, who knows not fo?

She may do more, Sir, than denying that:

She may help you to many fair preferments,

And then deny her aiding hand therein,
And lay thofe honours on your high deferts.

What may the not? fhe may----ay, marry, may fhe----
Riv. What, marry, may the?

Glo. What, marry, may the ? marry with a King, A bachelor, a hand fome ftripling too :

I wis your grandam had worfer match.

Queen. My Lord of Glo'fter, I have too long borne

1

Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter fcoffs:
By heav'n, I will acquaint his Majesty
Of those grofs taunts I often have endur'd.
I had rather be a country fervant maid,
Than a great Queen with this condition,
To be thus taunted, fcorn'd, and baited at.
Small joy have 1 in being England's Queen.

SCENE IV. Enter Queen Margaret.

Q. Mar. And leffen'd be that small, God, I beseech
Thy honour, ftate, and feat is due to me. [thee!
Gla. What! threat you me with telling of the King?
Tell him, and spare not: look, what I have faid,
I will avouch in prefence of the King:

"I is time to fpeak, my pains are quite forgot.

2. Mar. No, devil! I remember them too well: Thou kill'dft my husband Henry in the Tower, And Edward, my poor fon, at Tewksbury.

Glo. Ere you were Queen, ay, or your husband King,
I was a pack-horse in his great affairs;

A weeder out of his proud adverfaries,
A liberal rewarder of his friends;

To royalize his blood, I spilt mine own.

2 Mar. Ay, and much better blood than his or thine. Glo. In all which time you and your hufband Gray Were Factious for the house of Lancaster;

And, Rivers, fo were you; --was not your husband,
In Margret's battle, at St Alban's, flain?

Let me put in your minds, if you forget,

What you have been ere now, and what you are:
Withal what I have been, and what I am.

2. Mar. A murth'rous villain, and fo ftill thou art. Glo. Poor Clarence did for fake his father Warwick, Ay, and forfwore himself, (which Jefu pardon !) 2. Mar Which God revenge!

Glo. To fight on Edward's party for the crown;
And for his meed, poor Lord, he is mew'd up..

I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's;
Or Edward's foft and pitiful, like mine:

I am too childith-foolith for this world.

2 Mar. Hie thee to hell for fhame, and leave this world.

Thou cacodæmon! there thy kingdom is.

Riv. My Lord of Glo'fter, in thofe busy days, Which here you urge to prove us enemies, We follow'd then our Lord, our lawful King; So fhould we you, if you should be our King, Glo. If I fhould be!I had rather be a pedlar: Far be it from my heart the thought thereof,

Queen. As little joy, my Lord, as you suppose You thould enjoy were you this country's King? As little joy you may fuppofe in me,

That I enjoy, being the Queen, thereof.

2. Mar. A little joy enjoys the Queen thereof; For I am fhe, and altogether joylets.

I can no longer hold me patient.

Hear me, ye wrangling pirates, that fall out
In fharing that which ye have pill'd from me :
Which of you trembles not that looks on me?
If not that, I being Queen, you bow like fubjects;
Yet that, by you depos'd, you quake like rebels?
Ungentle villain, do not turn away!

Glo. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st thou in my fight?

2. Mar. But repetition of what thou haft marr'd. That will I make before I let thee go.

A hufbind and a fon thou ow' to me;
And thou, a kingdom; all of you, allegiance.

[To Glo.

[To the Queen..

The forrow that I have, by right is your's;
And all the pleasures you ufurp, are mine.

paper,

Glo. The curfe my noble father laid on thee, When thou didst crown his warlike brows with And with thy fcorns drew'st rivers from his eyes, And then, to dry them, gav'st the Duke a clout, Steep'd in the faultlefs blood of pretty Rutland; His curfes, then from bitterness of foul Denounc'd againft thee, are now fall'n upon thee; And God, not we, has plagu'd thy bloody deed. Queen. So juft is God, to right the innocent. Haft. O'twas the fouleft deed to flay that babe, And the most merciless that e'er was heard of! Riv. Tyrants themfelves wept when it was reported. Dorf. No man but prophefy'd revenge for it.

Buck. Northumberland, then prefent, wept to fee it 2. Mar. What! were you fnarling all before I came, Ready to catch each other by the throat,

And turn you all your hatred now on me?

Did York's dread curfe prevail fo much with heav'n,
That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death,
Their kingdom's lofs, my wofil banishment,
Could all but anfwer for that peevish brat?
Can curfes pierce the clouds, and enter heav'n?
Why, then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses!
If not by war, by furfeit die your King,

As ours by murther, to make him a King!
Edward thy fon, that now is Prince of Wales,
For Edward our fon, that was Prince of Wales,
Die in his youth, by like untimely violence!
Thyself a Queen, for me that was a Queen,
Outlive thy glory, like my wretched felf!
Long may't thou live to wail thy childrens' lofs,
And fee another, as I fee thee now,

Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine!
Long die thy happy days before thy death,
And after many length'ned hours of grief,
Die neither mother, wife, nor England's Queen !
Rivers and Dorfet, you were ftanders-by,

And fo waft thou, Lord Haftings, when my fon
Was ftabb'd with bloody daggers; God, I pray him,
That none of you may live your natural age,

By fome unlook'd-for accident cut off?

Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag. 2 Mar. And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou fhalt hear me.

If heav'ns have any grievous plague in ftore,.
Exceeding thofe that I can with upon thee,
O, let them keep it, till thy fins be ripe;
And then hurl down their indignation

On thee, thou troubler of the poor world's peace !
The worm of confcience ftill begnaw thy foul;
Thy friends fufpect for traitors while thou liv'ft,
And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends:
No fleep clofe up that deadly eye of thine,
Unless it be while fome tormenting dream
Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!